NAFEMS 2016 UK Conference - Telford

Angus Ramsay and Edward Maunder of Ramsay Maunder Associates attended the NAFEMS 2016 UK Conference as guests of NAFEMS.

The conference was well attended by practising engineers, consultants and software vendors.

Of particular interest to RMA were:

The Iron Bridge - Simulation is a Vital Part of Conservation, Carl Brookes of Ramboll, UK.

RMA followed up this presentation with a site visit to the two bridges discussed in this presentation.

It is of interest to modern engineers that these bridges are made from cast iron and assembled in a manner that resembles the approach a carpenter might adopt - dove-tail joints etc. Cast iron has little ductility and very little strength in tension. The Coalbrookdale bridge has suffered considerable (minor) member failure (primarily due to relative motion of the opposite banks of the river) but not sufficient to cause any major loss in the strength of the overall structure. It is, of course, highly statically indeterminate - many different ways of taking the load from the deck to the ground. A strut has been added below the water line, to provide resistance to any further relative motion of the opposite banks. The multiple ring form of this bridge is probably an over-design as witnessed by the Coalport bridge which only has a single ring. Interestingly, whilst the Coalport bridge is now restricted in weight to 7 tons, it has taken the weight of a 23 ton cement mixer without undue concern.

Overview of SimBest Project Results, Gino Duffett, NAFEMS.

An excellent presentation and summary of the SimBest project and its results.

A Robust Finite Element Analysis Procedure for Effective Assessment of Historical Steel Girder Bridges, Alex De Oliveira, Arup.

This presentation was of interest because of the current work RMA are conducting on the limit analysis of steel plates. It seems that this form of analysis is essential in establishing the ULS conditions in steel girder bridges.

The Finite Element Implementation, Validation and Verification of the Leacock 2006 Yield Criterion, William Kilpatrick, Frazer Nash Consultancy.

The Leacock 2006 Yield Criterion is one that is applicable to steel plates with anisotropic strength properties - it is, essentially, an anisotropic version of the von Mises yield criterion. In RMA's software EFE, we currently adopt the standard isotropic von Mises criterion. However, with steel plates manufactured through rolling, the strength is likely to be orthotropic. This might well be something that RMA needs to include in future versions of the software.

CAD-Embedded-FEA: Heavy-Handed Constraint or Just Plain Wrong?, Bob Johnson, Realistic Engineering Analysis Limited.

This highly entertaining presentation demonstrated how cut down versions of finite element systems designed for use by the engineering designer rather than the skilled analyst, limit the way in which the designer can run realistic analyses. The message is clear to RMA - the democratisation of simulation needs to be handled rather carefully as the example shown by Bob is simply unacceptable.

The conference was also a great opportunity to meet like-minded engineers. RMA were pleased to meet Rebecca Bryan of Simpleware, a very successful spin-out company from the University of Exeter, to refresh contact with Nils Wagner of INTES GmbH and Andrew Chinn of ITI.